English for Specific Purposes Needs in Vocational Higher Education: Uncovering Urgency, Variance, and Skill Priorities Through Listening and Reading Data

Abstract This study investigates receptive English language proficiency across six academic departments including Business Administration, Accounting, Tourism, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Civil Engineering at the State Polytechnic of Bali, Indonesia. Using the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) Listening and Reading scores from 1,618 students, the research aims to identify urgent needs for foundational English for Specific Purposes (ESP) instruction, assess score consistency within departments, and determine which skill, listening and reading, presents the greater overall need. Quantitative analyses were conducted using SPSS, with descriptive statistics, standard deviation, interquartile range, and ANOVA supporting cross-departmental comparisons. Findings reveal that students from business-oriented departments outperformed to those in the technical programs, with Mechanical and Civil Engineering showing the lowest mean scores in both Listening and Reading. Mechanical Engineering also displayed the most consistent scores at the lowest performance level, which indicates a uniformly weak language foundation. Tourism and Electrical Engineering, on the other hand, exhibited the widest performance variability, suggesting a need for differentiated instruction. Importantly, Reading emerged as the most consistently weak skill across all departments, positioning it as a potential focus for pre-specialisation ESP modules. While offering valuable insights, the study is limited by its exclusive focus on receptive skills and reliance on quantitative TOEIC data. Future research should incorporate productive language skills and qualitative measures to capture motivational, contextual, and strategic learning factors. Overall, the findings inform curriculum development for vocational higher education by highlighting specific language needs across disciplines and guiding targeted ESP interventions.